Joseph's Coat Climbing Rose

Back in 2006 when we first planted the Knockout roses, we also planted three climbing roses behind each Graham Blandy to add a little more color to the right front bed. You can't really see them in this photo, but I swear they are there.



We purchased the plants from Home Depot (of all places). They were pretty crappy roses and cost like $2.50 each because it was the end of the planting season for roses and they were on sale. Big spender! Yes, I was naive back in those days and didn't know Home Depot sold crappy plants. FYI - In my new found wisdom, I do not advocate the purchase of roses from Home Depot. All that aside, we bought two yellow Casino Climbers and one White Dawn climber. I thought yellow and white would help add a little more contrast to the green and red motif we currently had going on.

The yellow Casino Climbers have performed beautifully, faithfully producing huge blooms of a fragrant butter color all season long. They have branched out wonderfully and I expect some gorgeous blooms from them again this year.

The White Dawn climber has not performed so well. I think it is more suited as a rambling rose, to be positioned on a fence or possibly allowed to grow along the ground, because its canes are very flimsy, and it has not appreciated my attempts to make it grow upright.

I regretted buying these roses the first time I saw a Joseph's Coat climbing rose in a rose catalogue. I often have "buyer's regret" when I see something better, but this time it was almost uncontrollable, and I felt like a dork for buying roses from Home Depot. LOL. I am becoming a plant snob.



When I read how the Joseph's Coat transitioned from red to gold to yellow, and I imagined how lovely they would look against the deep red brick of the house intermingled with the cherry red Knockout roses, I just knew I had to have at least one! I resisted the urge to buy them though, because I can be a bit of a hasty spender. I was very proud of myself. However, now that I have given the White Dawn climber a reasonable amount of time to prove itself, and it has pretty much spit in my face, I gave myself permission to get the rose I really want! Woo-hoo!

I remember from a seminar I attended at the North Carolina Arboretum that one of the speakers liked the website heirloomroses.com, so I surfed on over to that site to see if they carried the rose I wanted, and in fact, they did. I ordered one, and it arrived last week. This company sells only "own-root" roses, which means they are not grafted onto a hardier variety of rose, but growing from their own roots. They claim there are numerous benefits for growing "own-root" roses over grafted plants, but I have little experience with grafted roses, so I cannot really comment. My Knockout roses are own-root and have performed awesomely, and my currently climbers are grafted, and 2/3 have performed well. So, I really cannot give an educated opinion on the matter at this point.

I was prepared for a small plant, so I wasn't disappointed when it arrived. They sent it at the perfect planting time, and I put it in the ground the same day it came.



I added a good bit of manure to the soil to jump start its growth and watered it in very generously. I think it will do well. The plant is healthy and the site is perfect.

I did have a bit of a challenge planting it, because I needed to work between a Graham Blandy and a Knockout rose. Roses have thorns - painful thorns that can penetrate jeans and thick shirts! As you can see from this picture, there was no avoiding the prickles while working in this area.



So I got the bright idea to cover the Knockout rose instead of trying to layer myself with enough clothes to deter the thorns. I doubled up an old sheet, draped it over the bush, and all was well. I didn't get stabbed once. So, there's a little tip for you when working in a rose bed - just cover the roses up with an old sheet, and it'll keep the thorns out of your rear-end! LOL!

We have just one more month of planting time for roses, so if you're thinking of adding a new rose to your garden, you better get in gear, and fast!